#also the Christmas Invasion is... bad tbh

[rugessnome]

I am back on my nonsense*

*I caught most of Vengeance on Varos on plutoTV

[safyresky]

This was the most anticlimactic finale I have EVER seen in my life??

IT WAS SO. ANTICLIMACTIC. LIKE. THE MAD SANTA AND SCOTT STANDOFF? THE UN-NUTCRACKERING OF MY BOY???? SANDRA'S POWERS??? I JUST. WHERE IS THE GROWTH. WHY CAN'T THEY GIVE US MORE TIME FOR ALL THE GROWTH. AH. BAD!

On that note, tho, things I actually quite liked, maybe even LOVED???? I thoroughly enjoyed the episode. Well, MOST of it. Especially:

Betty and Olga's whole toymaking thing lol that was cute and sweet

NOEL! EVERYTHING NOEL! TAKING CHARGE! BROKERING A PEACE! AMAZING

Kris tagging along, lol, what a vibe. "Holy crap! Ice bergs???!?!?!?!" (chokes on a bug)

Mad Santa and Olga acknowledging their toxicity with one another

Sandra calling Cal Buddy, THANK YOU QUEEN

Sandra's whole VIBE tbh. The witchy/goth prom look, her powers being like. Based on Christmas spirit!

Betty and Olga AGAIN, I really really REALLY loved how that went and LOVED how they were like "we're really quite the same"

Meanwhile Noel and the rest of the gnomes are like "Oh! Glad y'all caught up! Tea?"

Good for Magnus, going back and performing!! Good for him!!! I loved seeing him THRIVE with the sax!!!

and I'm really glad Magnus was like "Kris's place made me feel JOY", we LOVE TO SEE PEOPLE WITH CHRISTMAS SPIRIT REASSURED AND VALIDATED!

Everything about Mrs. Claus tbh. Carol, my belovedddddd~ freaking out about Buddy and and and having the RANGE, GOD, Elizabeth Mitchell fans, you are all SO RIGHT!

So basically everything that DIDN'T involve Santa? I'm kinda shooketh. Why was that episode so chill compared to all the other ones??? I obtained MINIMAL psychic damage (perhaps I have an immunity now??? WHO'S TO SAY!)

Santa's lines are all delivered so unenthusiastically and he just. GOD. You know how in The Christmas Invasion Ten looks at Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, then goes over to her assistant and is like "doesn't she look tired"? I feel like we could totally do that to Tomothy and just. End him. Then and there.

KRIS. He's really cool. Like I unironically enjoy him. He a little naive but BOY DOES HE HAVE THE SPIRIT! AND I LOVE THAT! Honestly, they could've had him be the next Santa and he'd be AMAZING at it tbh! he was very underused and that was a SHAME. Remember in episode 1 when we saw his dad for like 3 seconds and I thought "wow we could have a whole father figure angle here!" as if the writing in this show could actually decently do something like this

Get his ass count for this episode: about 5

Again, I keep getting hung up on the weird choices and the lore????????

Weird choices: having the underlying theme of Betty/Olga fight being I WANT THAT TOY NO IT'S MINE was weird?? You could've done it differently to get them to the Workshop to chat. you could have had them call one another out with their toymaking skills? And go from there?????? IT WOULD'VE BEEN EASY TO DO

Weird choices: Bringing Kris up??? I LOVED it, he was perf comedic relief--like, if anyone in this universe should have loony toon powers (see: him appearing in the cell behind Mad Santa and everyone being like OH YOU'RE HERE TOO), it's Kris. 100%

My mood @ Kris is very much:

yes. I made a meme about it. I just really appreciate him, especially in this episode? HE'S JUST FULL OF CRIBMAS SPIRIT!!! FUCK!

Lore things I had issues with:

1. "But a witch...born at the North Pole...could!"

2. "You've got a history"/"I've read your history! You were a GREAT Santa!" and also "Way to go Noel! I always KNEW you'd make a great head elf!"

3. "Storied apex of the globe"

(not direct quotes)

"But a witch...born at the North Pole...COULD"

As a disclaimer: I quite like Sandra having cribmas witch magic, and I like the idea that she's a lil different bc of being born at the Pole. HOWEVER. The execution/explanation is...mid. WHY is it that Sandra being a human witch born at the NP CAN un-nutcracker Cal??? Where is the EXPLANATION!??!!? WHAT ABOUT IT MAKES HER DIFFERENT FROM OTHER WITCHES? IS IT BECAUSE OF THE "storied apex of the globe" COMMENT NOEL MAKES WHEN HE'S BEING A BAMF AND HYPING UP THE GNOMES? IS IT LEY LINES??? LIKE. WHAT IS THE EXPLANATION?

I would be FINE with suspending my disbelief if they had maybe just GIVEN THE CONCEPTS AND CHARACTERS TIME TO GROW!!! You could've rewritten the whole entire "we're stealing doing Easter!" episode and instead SOLELY FOCUS ON MAGIC. Have Befana react more mildly and go "this is different, come along" and bring Sandy to her lil cabin while they try to figure it out and THEN drop the "she was born at the NP and this is why she ca do such a powerful spell" and then have someone go what why?? AND BOOM. BEFANA GIVES US EXPOSITION, WE LEARN, SANDRA CAN HAVE A PLOTTY ARC WHERE SHE'S LIKE "no, I can't do that, that's. Girl that's crazy" to have the build to her un-nutcrackering Buddy have more of an OOMPF, you know? IT'S THAT EASY. ARGH.

2. "you've got a history/I've read your history" (A) and "I always knew you could do it Noel!" (B)

2. a) HOW COULD YOU HAVE READ THE HISTORY WHEN THE ELVES RIPPED OUT THE PAGE AND BURNT IT? WAS IT YOUR SANTA SENSES? HELLO? IF SO, WHY DIDN'T THEY SHOW US MORE OF THAT?? MAYBE SUBPLOT FOR SCOTT WHILE SANDY IS LEARNING ABOUT HER COOL MAGIC, HE'S LIKE OKAY. INTO THE YULE VERSE, LET'S LEARN ABOUT MAD SANTA. AND GIVE IT SOME PROPER TIME TO BE ESTABLISHED! LET SCOTT SEE HOW MAGNUS WAS BEFORE HE GOT PARANOID AND DISPATCHED BY THE ELVES! THEN MAYBE. JUST MAYBE. THE ANTI-CLIMATIC SANTA VS SANTA SHOWDOWN WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN AS ANTI-CLIMACTIC BECAUSE SCOTT BE KNOWING THAT MAGNUS WAS GOOD AND IS JUST HAVING SOME RELATABLE ISSUES, AND THE PAYOFF WOULD BE BETTER!

2. b)

OH REALLY. DID YOU SANTA? DID YOU? BECAUSE I HAVE MOTHER FUCKING RECEIPTS:

I REST MY FUCKING CASE, SANTA.

(also I got a DAMN GOOD Noel snip. You GO NOEL. SHOW SCOTT WHO'S THE FUCKING BOSS! YEAH!!!! YEAH BABY!!!)

3. "The storied apex of the globe."

YOU CAN'T JUST DROP THIS ON ME. ON ALL OF US. AND NOT ELABORATE. ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT ALL THE STORY CREATURES LIVE AT THE NORTH POLE BC IT'S AN APEX? A NEXUS? FUCKING ELABORATE ON THAT! ADD IT TO THE REWRITTEN STEAL EASTER EPISODE. STOP DUMPING LORE WITHOUT ELABORATING. WHAT! DOES! IT! MEAN! AHHHHH (explodes)

(reconstitutes)

Whew! Glad I got all that out of my system!!!

Other odds and ends that did NOT hit:

"I went to MIT" I'm with Edie on this one tbh. Also, where is the MUFFIN institute of tech. At the North Pole? WHERE??? YOU CAN'T DROP HINTS THAT ALL MAGICAL CREATURES ARE THERE AND NOWHERE ELSE WITH AN AREA THAT SMALL. THAT'S WHY CRYSTAL SPRINGS IS A GD CONTINENT OF A LANDMASS!!!! AH!

ANTICLIMACTIC SANTA VS SANTA MOMENT! IT WAS SO DRY AND DROLL AND JUST. IT DID N O T HIT. SEE ABOVE POINTS.

ALL OF SANTA SCOTT'S BITS. SO FLAT AND DRY!!!!! SOMEONE PUSH HIM OFF A ROOF AND MAKE SURE HE S T A Y S DOWN

Mad Santa about 100 times: "I'M NOT A DUMB STUPID HUMAN LIKE YOU" THEN WHAT ARE YOU?!?!?!?!?!?

I AM ONCE AGAIN ASKING FOR CAROL TO HAVE MORE OF AN ARC THAN "overbearing mom" AND "token WE PASSED FEMINISM" rep, especially with Elizabeth Mitchell putting her WHOLE ASS SELF INTO IT! SHE HAS THE RANGE! A SHAME SHE'S STUCK WITH FLAT ASS TOMOTHY AND GLASS CEILING REFERENCES!!!

HECK, I'D LOVE IT IF BOTH PARENTS HAD MORE TIME TO REALIZE THEY WEREN'T BEING GREAT! OR EVEN, DIDN;T HAVE THAT PLOTLINE AND WERE JUST TRYING TO BE SUPPORTIVE BUT NOT SURE HOW TO GO ABOUT IT AND MAKING MISTAKES BUT LEARNING TO FIX EM!

I sighed loud enough to wake the entire neighbourhood ALL TWO REWATCHES WHEN THEY SHOEHORNED THE MOVIE FLASHBACKS IN. WHEN THEY REVEALED THAT KRIS WAS THE HOUSE OF KAYAK KID FROM TSC 1. WHEN THEY THREW ALL THE OLD "he is drinking out of the mug SEE IT'S ALWAYS BEEN HERE" flashback sequence in. uGH S T O P!!!! IT WAS BAD IN THE THIRD MOVIE AND IT'S W O R S E IN THE SERIES

(in Yzma voice) WHY DOES HE EVEN HAVE THAT AMULET? BC HE'S SECRETIVE? GIVE ME MORE INFO!!! (flips a table)

CURTIS EXPLODED. CURTIS WENT TO KRIBBLE KRABBLE AND NEVER CAME BACK. WAS THAT BEFORE OR AFTER HE EXPLODED??? (@shittyelfwriter and I both agree AFTER lol)

I figure he was patient 0 for Curtis-itis, hence the name! Maybe almost 'sploded but instead went nope! I need to kribble krabble!

I mean, he would uphold it, of course, the MOMENT after he became head elf bc he loves rules so heckin much lol

Regardless, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

An aside: I read an article talking about that piece of info and the person who wrote it was like "Curtis stans will be happy to know (we know you're out there!)"

(me, squinting) where. where. I don't see them. I see the Elizabeth Mitchell/Carol stans (on occasion. I stumble into them like I made a wrong turn lol). The Bernard stans (how could you NOT see them they're everyone lol), The JACK STANS (guilty as fucking charged), but have yet to see CURTIS STANS. Mostly just Curtis appreciators??? y'all are cool tho. He is a funky lil stressed out nerd. Deffs NOT a management guy lol. Give him a couple hundred or so more years first :-)

HOW AND WHY DID MAGNUS GO INTO THE JAIL. WE ARE MISSING A SCENE. BIG TIME. WHERE DID IT GO. YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE CUT THAT ONE MY DUDES. MAYBE THE FLUFFY EATS A FLY WHILE IN THE SLEIGH BIT SHOULD'VE BEEN AXED INSTEAD SINCE FLIES DON'T GO THAT HIGH! WHY IS MAD SANTA THERE AND H O W DID HE PASS THE BLOCKADE OF PEOPLE??? HELLO???

Just. Just let Cal go to prom. Don't bring prom to him. Please. Please let him and Riley have ONE brain cell at LEAST. Technology isn't rotting our brains THAT badly. It's just pushing censoring and making younger gens forget what critical thinking skills are!

God, now I sound like Tomothy. VIBE CHECK ON AISLE SAFYRESKY!

Also, Riley, stop trying to steal @snowqueenjacqueline's DRIP GIRLIE. LIGHT BLUE? SNOWFLAKES? WHAT'S JACQUELINE SUPPOSED TO WEAR TO NORTH POLE PROM NOW?!?!!?

And I think that's it?? I think I got it all out of my system. WHEW.

Season thoughts: Ouch. Brain hurty. Andie you were SO RIGHT with the disjointed bit. TOO MUCH LORE. TOO MUCH THROWING BACK. NOT ENOUGH EXPLANATIONS/GROWING TIME. CHARACTER ARCS ARE ONCE MORE NONEXISTENT. THEY JUST HAPPEN AND WE DON'T SEE THEM. SOMEHOW BETTER THAN SEASON 1???? BUT STILL. NOT GREAT! Mid, mostly. Not great! Nothing to write home about tbh.

And now. I end this lengthy ass review with some snips of my FAVOURITE part of the entire season:

[littlespoonevan]

Hiii Ciara my most beloved source of buddie brainrot and general weewoo madness 😍

I need to know all your thoughts/hopes/dreams/theories regarding the episode titles immediately (if it's not too much to ask obv 😇)

I myself have been freaking out all day and i need to know i'm not alone😭

Anyways love you, hope you're having a great day 💜

oh anon, i am SO excited!!!!! all of the titles have so much potential???????? i’m literally 👀👀👀👀👀 at every single one of them lmao. i haven’t thought through them much yet but let’s go down the line and see what we can come up with:

6x01: Let The Games Begin - i am still Agog over this i can’t decide where it’s gonna go??????? i do think it’ll be bobby/athena heavy and i’m also convinced it’ll be fun but in the kind of chaotic way that leads into the opening disaster

6x02: Crash and Learn - Very intriguing, likely related to the opening disaster in some way so the “crash” part is especially curious if we are going down the cruise route where something happens during the honeymoon. it feels a little like “sink or swim” to me in the sense there’s obviously a double meaning since they’ve reworked the phrase but also that it's gonna be somewhat literal as well

6x03: Animal Instincts - this one is just????????? whAT DOES THAT MEAN?????? if we’re still in the middle of the opening disaster i have no idea where we go with this or how it ties in???????? if we’re not then it’s????? calls about animals??????? but also related to the characters somehow?????? i have no idea lmfao

6x04: Evil - i mean this could literally be anything this is so vague sdkjfhs what i will say is that some of my favourite eps have single word titles and 911 has never written a bad episode 4 so i am Excited

6x05: Home Invasion - definitely henren heavy and likely ending on a cliffhanger to lead into 6x06. i’m assuming there will be a literal home invasion of some sort but they could definitely do a play on words with this too to relate it to a more lighthearted storyline (*cough*buddieroommates*cough*)

6x06: Henren Begins - I. CAN’T. WAIT. this is all i’ve wanted and asked for for literal MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!! i want to see their first date and them adopting denny and their first wedding and also, per a post i made 3 months ago, i need girl on the moon to play by foreigner to play during their first date scene bc karen is a rocket scientist and hen is falling in love w her

6x07: Cursed - i know it’s airing in november but i really hope it’s a proper halloween ep!!!!! if we’re not getting a christmas ep we dESERVE a halloween ep. let it be fun and full of shenanigans please!!!!!

6x08: Pilgrimage - very, very interested in this. i think it’s likely going to have something to do with bobby but possibly also eddie???? also i just feel like it’s going to hurt but in a good way (i think) skadjfhsa

6x09: Warning Signs - i’m scared of this one lmfao. that is a Very Stressful title for a midseason finale ep sakdjfha i do think it’s gonna hint at a character breakdown, be that bobby or buck or hen (as i saw someone theorise earlier) and perhaps the other characters’ not realising (or finally realising) something is wrong. i think there’s a lot of potential here and tbh i wouldn’t be surprised if we’re left with a midseason cliffhanger

all of these are subject to change obviously as info gets revealed to us but these are my initial reactions/impressions just based on the titles and the 15 minutes i’ve looked at them asdkjfhs thanks for ur message, my love!! 💖

[radellama]

Games I Played in 2021

Going to start off by saying, I feel I didn’t really get to play many games this year, and when I did I found myself feeling very :/// about current gen games. I had some help modding my 3DS as I was too busy to do most of it, and it was probably the best thing to come of this year gaming wise for me. I don’t know if my crankiness this year is attributed to outside factors reducing my patience and letting my over-critical self run rampant, or if perhaps I’ve finally aged out of being the target audience to most things and need to just stay in my bubble. Regardless, there's a lot of salt and weird games in my gaming recap of 2021 ahead. Also I’m not counting games like solitaire and sudoku even though they’re probably what hold the most gaming hours for me this year. Possible mild spoilers for some games I discuss, and I kinda gave up on reviewing properly so have fun deciphering these rants :P

Happy Home Designer

Well, theres not all that much to say here but I’ll find a way to make this a paragraph too long, I bet :P I wasn’t happy with New Horizons at all, and when I saw HHP come out years ago I was always curious, as collecting furniture was one of my favourite parts of Animal Crossing. Playing this was nice, but its a brain off kinda game. It was nice designing spaces for villagers, though it really did feel like a spin off game (funny to say that, when a lot of people would debate how much of a game a casual one like AC in general is) I played for a solid couple of months, had fun and then slowly stopped playing as the repetitiveness set in.

I would like to make a side note here and say. Fucking hell why did ACNH essentially make this game as the DLC. And only JUST add Brewster in? And not even in his own Cafe, he’s back in the museum… I stopped playing NH a while ago and seeing all these updates that SHOULD’VE BEEN THERE IN THE BASE GAME come out kinda makes me mad. I bought the DLC for my siblings as an early Christmas gift, but I don’t think I’ll buy it myself. Why? Cause I have Happy Home Designer on my 3DS and can already play it and it’s probably better lmao. I feel like AC has gone downhill ever since the app came out and I just miss playing Wild World.

nooks homes - https://youtu.be/uzbhyEiNi5k

first preview - https://youtu.be/ONYdWhLEFRU

tom nooks theme - https://youtu.be/0Khgfifk69Q

~~

Sims 2 DS

This game is fucking weird. It’s barely a Sims game, its actually a hotel management game. And a weird one. You crash your car on the outskirts of this weird and isolated town in the desert, and then stuff happens and you kinda take over the managerial position for the absent hotel manager. I had this game on my DS as a teen, I used to play it when I’d hang out in my parents parked car and for some reason sat in there for hours in the summer heat and it’d be worse than a sauna. I think it enhanced the vibe of all these weird npcs going a little loopy in the desert tbh. The game is still weird, I got further than I did as a kid, but I’m at a late game stage where I don’t really care to go further, so I’m calling it done.

I think it was a bad choice to have it be real time, I think an internal time system would’ve worked better at adding more of a constraint to the chores you have to perform and make the late game more challenging. Having events like alien invasion or goonies attacking prompt countermeasure challenges (spraying aliens with a water gun or dressing up as a superhero rat to stun and arrest goonies respectively) have a time limit of one real life hour is too easy. It takes barely 3 minutes to prepare and find them, attack them and get it over with. Theres also not really any stakes if you lose, so half the time I’d just ignore them lol. I don't’ really know what to say to this, its so fucking strange that it’s hard to describe, and the reason why I stopped was just cause I didn’t care to go collecting useless skill points that are only useful for this one mission, poor game design. Also, can’t even whoo hoo in this game smh 0/10

strangetown at night - https://youtu.be/tkcnohuXygc

electric pop - https://youtu.be/IMnCXpCMqfs

disco blitzkrieg - https://youtu.be/krWWnsgBo9Y

~~

Sims 3 DS

This is the worst sims game I’ve ever played you can barely do anything and most the furniture is ugly. I made my oc Harland and this was the first time I ever considered that I never made a last name for him, and then I made him a nurse and then spent most his free time reading. You can’t even whoo hoo here either smh 0/10. For some reason I played it for 5 weeks straight. Harland is now the best dr in the world and he has read almost every book ever. As you can imagine, it was boring and it sucked.

No song recs cause its not immediately popping up when I search and I don’t care to look cause the ost was bland tbh.

~~

Mario Kart 7

Hm. So. Last year I didn’t include games like this, but I really haven’t played much this year and I feel like being salty. MK8 didn’t need to exist, all the tracks I thought were originals to that game were actually from here. There’s not enough difference to warrant 8 existing, apart from the DLC they added on the Wii U and Switch, but even then… if mk8 was just an expanded port of this game, it’d be the EXACT SAME. This was a mario kart, nice to just zoom around when I was in desperate need of a brain break between the most chaotic uni term I’d had all year, but MKWii is still superior in my eyes.

Not linking any songs but this soundtrack is better than the soulless ‘jazz’ in MK8.

~~

Super Mario Kart

Just here as a companion to the previous entry. This game is still hard as shit and I’m glad they moved away from go-kart driving. Spinning out and bumping around sucks ass and popping wheelies in MKWii is more fun - but I still love this game cause I grew up on it and koopa looks pink and naked.

Listen to the soundtrack that I’m not linking here cause I’m lazy and will just hum it from memory :P

~~

Harvest Moon SNES

This game was a big part of my childhood. I played it again and got pretty far. It suffers from being a 90s game, which is especially apparent in winter sections where there is absolutely nothing to do other than feed your animals. It’s a very bare bones farming sim cause as I understand, it’s one of the first mainstream ones ever, and I love it’s simplicity like that. Trying to cover my whole farm in grass was an ambitious task [and I mean doing this with no cheats too] but I was determined. I almost got there, and married a woman and had 2 kids and it was fun, but the absolute lack of anything to do during winter and seeing that I’m barely halfway through the month on my second year was just a bit rough. I think I had more patience for this as a kid, and also I was so busy that I preferred to be boring and play sudoku in my spare time instead of harvest moon winter. This is a lovely game and very chill, and I loved dipping back in to play on the comfortable portability of my 3DS.

Town - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwe_Y8QqdP0

Summer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfK0Lg6byrw

trolls cave - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3EkT-jUNAg

~~

Dandy Dungeon

This was one of the best games that I played on Switch this year, and it’s one that I used to play on mobile during high school lol. Its a nice wrapped up definitive edition or something, it’s very charming and cheeky, and I like its simple premise and execution. I highly recommend playing it just because it is so simple and easy to get into, I think it’s a dungeon crawler lite but I dont really know that genre so lmao. You just go through levels, plot out a path and bash up enemies. It was a mobile game, so I mean it when I say simple, but its good fun and I recommend it. If the mobile version is still up it should be free, and I only bought it on switch because it was on sale.

demon lord - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCpmPf9S_VM

Retrograde life - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ydIElLOHA

wonderbad battle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL1Q_XlE6pE&t=13s

~~

Castlevania 1987

This was the other best game I played on Switch this year, and its a NES game. I was excited seeing the Castlevania collection, as I’ve always wanted to play the early stuff, but kept forgetting to go find ways to play. Yeah yeah, its a sin to buy shit like this when I don’t agree with the way Nintendo are going about whatever blah blah, but this is a neat little collection and convenient to have and now I don’t have to set up a nes emulator on my wii.

Onto the actual game, I played for like 90 minutes and had the best time. I don’t know if I’ve really just had that shit a time with gaming this year or if I’m just a cranky boomer gamer at heart, but this was awesome. It was fun cracking the whip and the enemies looked funny, and the first boss fight I encountered was challenging in a refreshing way by being so simple (no that doesnt make sense, yes i was just glad to play a game from back in the day and enjoy it for what it was) I died entirely too much, but I was playing after christmas lunch on my sister’s tv while chilling in the corner so i couldn’t really see the tv properly and was tired, but I can’t wait to play through all these games next year. Also the music is really good, especially by NES standards. But, if you couldn’t tell already, I love these older soundfonts and am always impressed with how much depth they can convey in their little beeps and boops. Yeah, I barely played, whatever, I had fun and it was one of the highlights of my gaming year, so its going on the list.

Vampire Killer - https://youtu.be/TAz_4zHBT1M

Stalker - https://youtu.be/SMTKbZKnXzU

~Skyward Sword HDtps://youtu.be/x8-NIlObLtA

~~

Skyward Sword HD

Ahh Skyward Sword, what an awesome game to celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’ve got the gold wiimote and the anniversary CD - Oh wait…. This is actually the 35th anniversary. And they’ve released… the exact same thing that they did for the last decades one….. Not even a Zelda all-stars like Mario? Not even a unique little game? We’ve done this before. Skyward Sword with an anniversary remote but this time there’s no soundtrack cd that comes with it. Ok…

That particular grumble aside, this is one of my personal favourite Zeldas, despite all it’s flaws, and I was excited to see it in HD and at the potential of getting a new wave of appreciators. There are some quality of life improvements that are very much appreciated, like reduced Fi sword-splaining, and being able to look around with the camera.

I was very curious to see how the dual stick sword play would go, as I believe like the last time we saw SS released, it could be the trial run to see how a mechanic works and refine it for the next game. (think the stamina in sswii -> botw) I didnt play SSHD for long, but I did play long enough to try out this dual stick sword, and I gotta say, once you get over the learning curve, it’s pretty good. It felt nice to have incredibly precise control of the sword, and it was fun slashing through the enemies this way and took me right back to all my playthroughs on the wii. However, I found the motion controls to be ASS here on switch. I don’t know why everyone complained about the motion controls on wii, I played as a dumb kid multiple times over the years and never really had a problem with them. I’m willing to bet all the people who complained about the motion controls on wii were people who didn’t calibrate the remote like it asked you to. On Wii, I’d only have to recenter the pointer once every couple of HOURS, and by that time it was often long enough that I would be satisfied with the session and stop for the day. On Switch, it was mere MINUTES between having to recenter. In fact, often during normal enemy encounters, I’d feel like I had to recenter after defeating a single enemy. Sure, it’s handy that theres a quick button to press and it recenters… but I shouldn’t have the motion controls be worse on a supposedly superior console. I can’t say for sure if I’m just a grump about this, but when the switch was announced and everyone was fawning over the motion controls and vibration, by the time I actually got to try one out at a demo, I was largely unimpressed. Once again, I am really dissapointed by the way the motion controls were adapted here for a game that is centered around it. If by chance, you think I might be doing something wrong and there’s a way to calibrate the joycons better for optimal play, please let me know. I just feel that with my current understanding of the way both types of motion control works, I just don’t see how the motion control could work better than the wii without something like the sensor bar to guide it.

I will also say, although so far with my short time dipping my toes in, and enjoying the dual stick, this absolutely sucks ass with joycon drift. I wont say anything for certain cause I haven’t played through the whole thing yet, but although changes like being HD and camera control and less Fi ramblings are appreciated, we’ve been here before, and this is really the most bare bones of a remake/port to current gen. I love this game so so much and I think it really didnt get the chance to be appreciated for what it was, but cmon. THe motion controls were so fun back in the day and I loved most the main and side quests, the soundtrack was absolutely gorgeous and I think this zelda game makes the best use out of all its items. Like, yeah you don’t use the slingshot as much after you get other items, but you can upgrade them and keep using them, like there are multiple places to use the beetle and the whip ect, their use isnt just confined to the dungeon you find them in and the occasional secret to remind you that those items still exist. I enjoyed the dungeons and the scenery of the game was always beautiful, its exciting to see it in HD and I so desperately hoped that this would give a chance for those brilliant bits to be seen for what they were and for old fans and new enjoyers to come together on that, and it seems that botw2 has stronger references to ss so that could be neat. But tbh, this just reminds me of every grievance I have with the switch in one beautiful game. Whadda hell.

fi’s farewell - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DAJBU4Wtqg

gate of time - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0np8WU2Znw

ballad of the goddess - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23hJeaLotEw

~~

Detroit Become Human

This is an interesting one… As it’s probably easy to guess, I love stories about robots/androids because I find them fascinating. (Blame it on Data from Star Trek and Robo from Chrono Trigger :P) I watched a playthrough with a friend in a massive binge session when it came out, and it was super fun. I know theres controversy with the creators or something, in all honesty I forgot what the deal was, but I bought this for like $4 in the bargain bin so lmao. While I wouldn't’ exactly call this a game, it is a pretty fun choose-your-own-adventure story. You follow three plotlines that are happening simultaneously, one of the special detective android, Connor - one of the caretaker who’s taken custody of a small child, Kara - and one of a different kind of carer android that eventually become robo jesus and spreads deviance in order to fight for android rights, Markus.

As I’m sure everyone knows, the Connor sections are the best; detective work and mystery solving are really captivating and I feel you get to see the best of both a concentrated pov and more at large pov of how androids are treated through his sections. His deviance is interesting, and I was glad to see an older gentleman be his partner protag instead of yet another young and generically-attractive dude lol. The way Connor bounces off Hank during investigations and seeing either a friendship begin or witness the absolute crumble of Hank’s mental state was compelling for the most part, and the chemistry between the actors really made their sections memorable.

Kara’s sections are a bit weaker, as you do have to take care of a little girl named Alice during it, however I thought there were still stand out moments, even if they felt melodramatic and strange at times. You also get the choice to gain a companion on your journey, Luther, and I think he is one of my favourite characters in the game because he has such an interesting introduction/backstory and he is still willing to selflessly help (if you go down the right path) from seeing how much Kara cares about Alice. While a lot of people may find Kara’s sections boring, I think they’re important as they showcase a much more domestic pov for the android racism thats going on and helps flesh out the worldview at large - though the reveal that happens during the Jericho arc for her is fucking dumb and I hate it, it could’ve been done better but I see what they were going for.

For me, Markus was actually the weakest of all the sections, especially as I feel he had the most potential to say more in his sections. He starts as a well off caretaker for a rich artist that has high support needs, and it’s clear that they have a close relationship like a father and son. This directly contrasts with the domestically abusive caretaker situation Kara was in that birthed her deviance, which is part of the reason why I feel Markus’ section, especially at the beginning is weaker. However, him being in a more affluent situation and living in a different bubble to other androids at large gave him a unique perspective of both human and android lives, which did make it interesting that he became a messiah of sorts and led androids to revolution. What I found really weak though, was that he just kinda. Becomes a leader without really earning it. He didn’t actually experience the full weight of android racism, so it often felt like he hadn’t earnt the leadership positions he’d been quickly thrust into which made it hard for me to follow in a narrative sense. Why were they all so quick to trust him and follow him? It felt lazy as hell lol. Especially when, as I’m playing, I’m thinking just briefly about it further than surface level to create more satisfying explanations, I wish there was a bit more refinement put into his story. As the one to lead the revolution, I wish they touched more upon android ptsd, as I feel him trying to work through the heavy emotions that come with deviance and realising how bad their situation is would’ve been both a better motivator for his protests, and a better companion plotline for Connor and Kara.

All three could’ve done with more refinement tbh, and before anyone tries to suggest that it be a much bigger focus on Connor, or even the whole game centered around him - no, that wouldn’t work lol. I love the Connor sections, but they’re actually just not strong enough to stand on their own, and part of why they are so fondly remembered is because there was more action and they felt more refined compared to Markus and Kara lol. I understand that it is incredibly difficult to commit to a huge branching story like this, but a little more time in the oven with better writers, or at least a producer or something that had a better understanding of the vision and could help keep everything tied together would’ve been awesome. Its still a decent game all these years later, but its so fucking shallow at the same time. Like imagine a more refined version of this game, one that tackles three important aspects of android life and deviancy that all converge for the climax and is more than the most shallow of allegories for racism or xenophobia. Connor’s relationship with Hank is interesting! Play up the tension between Connor trying to be genuine and work well with the jaded and often hung over detective as he battles ostracization from humans for being a freak android thats taking over their jobs and being considered a traitor to androids for working with humans to put them away. Kara’s deviancy is interesting! Play up how hard it is for her to shed android-ity in order to blend in with humans enough to keep Alice safe while they travel to try find a new life for themselves, and toeing the line between when to trust humans or androids as the social opinion during protests changes. Markus’ journey from having to run away for his own safety and having to work his way through the broken and rejected android undergrounds is interesting! Play up the aspects of how objectified androids are, how easily they’re thrown away and fucked over and explore ptsd within reject androids. Theres a really interesting scene after Markus runs away and wakes up in a garbage pit, and has to crawl through living graveyards of barely working androids and pull them apart so he can rebuild himself. I thought they were going to go somewhere with this, to show how much that affects him and how it reflects his patchwork view of android life, going from the easiest life he could possibly have to falling right into the pits of android hell. Link him more with the android religion that Connor and Hank investigate, show us how taboo it is considered for them to have built their own societies, cultures, religion, and what they’re willing to go through to stand up for their rights. I would’ve liked to see more strange protests from them as well, ones that really showcase how different they are as androids, but also highlight how similar they are to humans. I think struggling to appeal to humans while also trying to convince androids to become deviant has a lot of potential, as you see in the game the more you make controversies the more public opinion goes down which makes some mild consequences in later sections. Markus’ sections are the parts to get really gritty and uncomfortable with that! We have two other aspects covered but his in game section feels like more of a retread of what Kara is going through which is sad.

This is rambly and I do really love the concept, and theres a lot I haven't discussed, but I think i should call it here. Love the concept, wish more competent writing teams were allowed to explore this subject matter more and lean into how cool it could be, and the soundtrack is awesome actually! (even though most the bangers are from connors lol)

Now - https://youtu.be/-ODbE6OY0s8

they all look the same - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rf2Ecl7dDg

will you trust me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAkZtKi1RLk

special mention of that one luther trailer - https://youtu.be/dDdShA6t9H4

~~

Another Eden

I was recommended this game by a friend about half a year ago, and tbh I only really had my interest fully piqued when the chrono cross event was announced. It was a pleasant surprise tho, I enjoyed most my time with it even though I zoomed through the main story to unlock the cross event. It may have been detrimental for me to zoom as fast as I did, but I also feel this is just a little too adjacent to the kind of games I like that I wouldn’t have enjoyed it much more than I already have if I went slower. Its a nice little jrpg-lite mobile game, it has gatcha elements that I didn't really understand and it was only until I was about halfway through chap 15 that my friend told me how to use it and I’d been brute forcing my way through the game like a normal jrpg lol. The graphics are cute, the music is mitsuda inspired, and the story was nice, even though it got really goofy near the end.

I enjoyed the beginning a lot, travelling through time to figure out what force is tearing the timeline apart and how to stop it, but it seemed to really go off the rails near the end and then the big impactful moment was kinda ‘undone’ in the after-scene to introduce the further chapters in part two of the game. To be honest, I don’t know if I’m interested in continuing further, the end was nice enough as far as I’m concerned, and when I finish the cross event I think I’ll be happy leaving it at that. I’m glad to have played it, and it was nice seeing how much chrono trigger in particular seemed to inspire this game - (I believe a significant amount of the team had worked in chronoverse or were at least huge fans, what with between Kato writing again and Mistuda doing the main theme :P) - but I feel it wasn’t quite as good at ct lol. Thats to be expected, as a mobile game and kato having done the story for cross and dreamers, but ehhhhh it was so close to scratching an itch for the kind of stories like ct, but it just didn’t hit the spot. Perhaps this is more because its mobile game, or I’m just far too in love with ct that its incomparable to other games (or maybe cause I filled my party with guys who my friend described as ‘male cleavage’) but I think I’m happy with just this little stint I did in order for the rarity that is chrono content. Definitely worth trying out for yourself, I think I actually had more fun with other quests than the main one overall, as there were a large variety of side quests and character quests that added flavour to the world. Enjoyable, but just a bit too adjacent for me to hold it in any higher esteem than this.

Moonlight Forest - https://youtu.be/20ASkSK_Jis

Main Theme - https://youtu.be/CDz2QzLCYTI

Ratle - https://youtu.be/Ti7gIv9BVnw?t=3209

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Days 276-280

December 13-17 Maybe I just haven't had too much to say lately, or maybe I have just been hit with the one-two punch of ennui and busyness. We were supposed to leave yesterday for our trip to North Carolina, so I spent several days getting ready for that. The only thing worse than trying to get the house set up for a trip of several weeks in length is doing it knowing that people are going to come in while we're gone. I was able to put off the pest control people by telling them we were quarantining, which had the advantage of being absolutely true, but it also gave me extra time to clean the kitchen and the bathrooms which were the places they wanted to spray. Thank god we don't actually have bugs, those sprayings are much more invasive. This time I didn't have to empty out the cabinets or anything, just clean stuff. So a lot of time the past few days has been spent packing and cleaning. I even got down on my literal hands and knees to wash the kitchen floor. (My kitchen is so small that it doesn't make a lot of sense to use a mop.) It looks nicer now than it has in ages, tbh, just in time for us to be gone. Those pest control folks had better be very impressed. I also did more advanced planning for this trip than I usually do, packing my yarn bags and the toiletries kit several days in advance instead of my usual strategy of throwing in anything that is around on my way out the door. I was so proud of myself! Even my suitcase looks nice, everything folded and in the right place, and with the straps on to make sure it doesn't shift around too much.  Then Wednesday rolled around  and we didn't go. See it turns out that Kiddo had a standardized test to do that afternoon, the MAP test for those of you who follow such things. I cannot begin to express what kind of bullshit it is to make the kids do  standardized tests in a year like this, but it is what it is. We could've just ignored it, but I want to take the kiddo to the sea island where my folks spend the late winter for a little bit in February, and we will be better positioned to do that if we don't piss off the school too much with absences. Wednesdays are supposed to be asynchronous learning days, ideal for traveling, but instead we'd have had to stick around until nearly 3pm before heading out for a six and a half hour drive. Couple that with a gnarly winter storm weather forecast and we elected to push the trip forward by a day.  It was the right decision, but it did mean that the kiddo missed a partial day since my hotspot could not keep up with streaming his classwork once we left. He was there in the morning though, and that's when they take attendance. I made sure he did his homework. Tomorrow is the last day before break anyway, I doubt they were piling too much new stuff on. We had a brief scare when the car threw us a "bad key" error as we were trying to leave, but got it resolved and made excellent time with only one stop along the way. There was a lot of traffic! I listened to the entire soundtrack of 10 Things I Hate About You, my favorite 90s nostalgia album. Every song a banger, I tell you what. Anyway, we arrived about an hour before it started to snow, and early enough so that we could help MIL get into her book club Zoom meeting, so that was good.  Man, computers have really been a thing this week. The Red Cross rolled out a new system for getting people hooked up with services and emergency funds after a disaster, and it is _fucking awful._ It is so, so, so bad. It went live on Tuesday, and wouldn't you know it, Tuesday night I had my first call of the week. It wasn't a great call to start with, not a lot of information, some of it thirdhand, fire department no longer on scene. It's the sort of call where I would usually have to do a little extra poking the system and maybe make a couple extra calls to get everything perfect, but where it wouldn't be too big a deal. But because I marked one checkbox incorrectly on one page of this 25 page one-way flow, the system wouldn't let me set up the financial aid and it wouldn't tell me what was wrong or how to fix it.  I had to apologize to the client and tell him I would call him back because I had to figure out what was wrong. Figuring out what was wrong required contacting my coordinator, who three way called me with our area leader, who eventually put me into a Teams meeting via phone with two of her supervisors, while one person in that meeting simultaneously connected to the national watch floor so somebody could give us some goddamned technical support. (I tried calling the new tech support hotline, but they said they couldn't help me and I'd have to talk to my supervisor who had told me to call them in the first place.) So this all takes about an hour, which is actually pretty fast given all the moving parts involved and the fact that nobody knows shit about this one-day-old system, but is a long time when you have just had a fire and have young children and no place to stay. Finally, about a zillion steps up the Red Cross food chain from me, somebody is able to access the system and do the required approval (I had put a 1 instead of a 2 in what was apparently an extremely important box), and the financial assistance went through. I was able to help the client and it turned out okay, but it was HORRIBLE. I have done another call and talked to several people since then, and none of us can find one thing that the new system has made better, only things that are worse. It sucks. At least I go off shift for the month tonight.  Anyway, that was my week, but we finished our quarantine and now I am in North Carolina and that is good. MIL is happy for the company and Victoria and Tanika the cats have not tried to kill each other yet, and it's nice. Tomorrow we pickup groceries and try to get a Christmas tree, which are in short supply this year. But for now, rest! 

[theajaheira]

Your fluffy garbage is wonderful and fits perfectly

be vulnerable he kind of can’t help it? And he cares so much about these crazy kids; he’s lowkey proud of Willow’s smarts and work ethic and thinks she should have more faith in herself. Willow is a soft girl and I think probably the first one he’s willingly soft with in return? ‘Cause Ripper’s used to people who are dangerous and she’s just. Not. She’s soft and sweet and shy and she keeps asking if he’s okay or if she can help. And he’s known a lot of kids like Xander these past few years 2/7

and while he gets snarky with him he does genuinely think he’s funny and really will have Xander move in with him, for serious, he’s ready to throw down. And he’d still feel so much for poor Buffy?? ‘Cause yeah, he gets it. Someone else has made your choice for you and wants to take away everything that makes you whole and happy for the sake of this ‘destiny’ you think is bullshit anyway. Fuck, he knows. Dangerous prophesised event happening tonight, but you’ve got a date? 3/7

Go get ‘em Buff, Ripper’s got the event. Don’t like your Mum’s new boyfriend? Don’t blame you girl, I bet he’s a perv! Cruciamentum? NOT A CHANCE. And Jenny. Oh, Jenny. Smart and witty and sassy with the sweetest goddamn smile. And sometimes she’s nice to him, too, and it’s happening more and more but. Ethan. He’ll never take Ethan back, they’re done, over, but it hurts. He doesn’t miss him, not really, not with the clarity of hindsight 4/7

(maybe sometimes, when it’s quiet in the morning and he can’t hear that awful singing as he burns breakfast downstairs). But he did love him. Still does, a little, even after they killed Randall. And it’s proved to him that he can’t trust himself, that he consistently makes bad choices, and that love doesn’t always pull through and he’s just not ready to try again with someone else. Not never, but not yet. But the more Jenny smiles and laughs with him, the more things they go off and do by 5/7

themselves as ‘the only adults’, the more comfortable and safe he feels (safer than he’s felt since he was a child and he’s living on the freaking Hellmouth) the more he thinks ‘Maybe. Maybe soon.’ Besides, Jenny’s learning a lot about Ripper! He thinks monster trucks are pointless, American Football is boring and full of wusses, he needs glasses but doesn’t wear them when he should ‘cause they make him look dorky though she disagrees (“More like a sexy nerd.”) and the thought of an evening 6/7

a good book and a cup of Darjeeling tea is like some kind of secret heaven for him. She only knows that last one ‘cause he fell asleep in his chair, sure, but she only teased him a little bit and promised not to tell. Then discreetly bought him Darjeeling for Christmas since he refuses to share his birthday. Sometimes she comes over with her own book and they read together on the couch. And if she dozes off and drools on his shoulder, well, he knows how to take pictures on his phone. 7/7

oh my god what is occurring to me as these headcanons progress is how fiercely protective jenny would be of ripper in this au, to an extent that i think she wasn’t in canon. see, giles in canon is significantly more guarded than he was in his twenties, and because of this, giles in canon isn’t as easily hurt as ripper has the potential to be. sure, ripper will pretend to brush things off, but he has a tendency to sulk and withdraw to hide the fact that he’s been genuinely hurt. if anything, when he’s hurt, he might actually isolate himself More.

so what i’m getting at is the fact that when anyone asks invasive questions, or when the council shows up & ripper spirals, jenny IMMEDIATELY picks up on this. and because ripper won’t let her close enough for her to comfort him, she settles for fighting off anything that even Looks at ripper in a way she doesn’t like, because how dare it??? run the risk of hurting him???? he may be an abrasive mess but he is HER abrasive mess, even if she doesn’t actually consciously admit it.

willow’s protective of ripper too, actually, though she isn’t exactly as aggressive about it as jenny can be (”no, i don’t know how your dad’s important papers caught on fire,” says jenny calmly, dropping a lighter very obviously into the trash can, “why on earth would you ask me?”). mostly she just makes him a cup of tea and keeps on asking if she can help until ripper gives in and lets her watch tv with him. the age difference is less significant here so it’s kinda like he’s got a bunch of little siblings, which is nice in a different way.

xander and ripper probably actually have an Incredibly different dynamic, now that i’m thinking about it? because ripper doesn’t hold xander in contempt in the same way that giles did. sure, he gets annoyed with xander sometimes, but xander’s just a stupid kid. he’s learning. they go on patrol together & xander thinks ripper’s really cool, which feeds ripper’s ego but he also kinda worries that xander’s going to become a Disaster Like Him. jenny has to talk ripper down a lot tbh.

buffy n ripper just. love each other. it’s one of those watcher-slayer things because in every au they have a really strong connection, even though in this au ripper isn’t technically as much of buffy’s watcher. they play video games together and buffy makes ripper lots of aggressively cheerful pop-music playlists that he listens to all the way through. ripper sometimes makes buffy cookies and then pretends jenny made them, which is very clearly a lie (ripper never lets jenny near the kitchen after she put laundry detergent in the dishwasher because “it’s all soap, isn’t it?”).

anyway. um. this is beautiful as always and gave me a lot of Feelings as always. 

[briefpainfulandfullofgarbage]

#cluecrewquestionnaire

I was tagged by @hotchkiss-and-tell ten years ago and I’m just doing this now ahhh (my keyboard is broken typing take years :/ )

rules: copy and paste, answer the questions, tag 10 mutuals to do the same!

1. What is your favorite Nancy Drew game and why?

As a kid I really liked DDI, SHA, and CUR but I haven’t played them in years

2. Have you played all 32 games in the series? If not, which ones haven’t you played? If yes, which one did you play first?

I’ve played all the games except WAC and TOT. I really wanna play WAC but I don’t have a PC :/ (I heard there’s a way to make the PC games work on a mac but idk I’m bad at computers) I could play TOT but it doesn’t look that exciting tbh lol I will play it someday tho

3. What is your favorite line from any character in the series?

The one that’s referenced in my url cuz it’s just like.... so true. But also the part in TMB when Nancy asks Jamila what she thinks of Dylan and Jamila says “did I have to have an opinion on him?” and Nancy says “I guess not” and Jamila says “oh good that’s a relief.” And also like anything Joe has ever said

4. If you could change the ending to any game, which one would it be (no spoilers, though)?

Mmmm... idk about a specific game but I liked how in SAW and GTH you had more than one option for what Nancy could do and I wish more games had multiple endings

5. Which game is your least favorite, and why?

tbh RAN but I feel like that’s too obvious an answer?? but it’s true??? Other than that I guess I don’t like CLK much? I just don’t like driving or mini golf

6. Which character is your favorite? Why?

Of the mains Joe cuz he’s hilarious and Bess cuz I really liked her in MED. She was just really hashtag relatable?? Of the others Zoe Wolfe (SPY) and Dagny Silva (SEA) cuz I’m bi af and my type is girls who could kick my ass apparently. I like Henry (CRY) cuz he’s super depressing and funny. Also Gray (DED) cuz his whole existential crisis thing is too real. As an adult I have a newfound appreciation for Emily (CLK) cuz I too never leave my room unless the house is currently on fire. Also Jamila (TMB), Grigor (LIE) Colton (GTH), and Alexei (ASH)

7. Which character is your least favorite? Why?

Richard Topham (CLK) is the worst. So is Red Knott (DOG). And Tino Balducci (TRN), Colin (VEN), Toni (ASH), Lisa (TRT)

8. How do you feel about the whole Nancy/Ned vs. Nancy/Frank situation? Do you ship her with someone else? Who, and why?

Unpopular opinion but I don’t actually have an opinion?? I’m not really upset either way. I’m also here for aroace Nancy who’s in a committed relationship with adventure. (I did tell Ned I loved him in SEA tho cuz I just like... can’t make characters sad??)

9. Do you have any fun headcanons about any of the games or characters?

Mmmm not really tbh I’m boring. But Nancy is aspec, George is gay, and Joe is bi. That’s all I got rn idk about the others. @harpersthornton inspired me with their sims posts so I made sim versions of some of my favs. I’m not quite as good as they are at making them look accurate but sometimes my sims will do things and I’ll be like you know what I bet Frank does that

10. If you could visit any of the locations of the games, which ones would they be and why?

I’ve been to a few but Japan has been on my bucket list forever cuz I’m half Japanese. I really wanna go to Iceland to see the northern lights. Also New Orleans cuz it looks cool and I wanna go before global warming does its thing. 

11. Did you read any of the original Nancy Drew books? If yes, do you like them? If no, would you consider reading one?

I read some of them when I was a kid but I haven’t since so I don’t really remember if they were good or not. I liked them at the time tho

12. What is one thing any good detective can’t live without?

Koko kringles? Lack of tact and boundaries? Kleptomania? A Mary Poppins bag to carry all the stuff you took cuz it’ll ‘come in handy later’?

13. Which game had the best soundtrack?

Ohhh... tbh I don’t pay as much attention to the soundtracks as I should... I thought the SAW soundtrack was really cool tho

14. What is one thing you wish HER would’ve included in any of the games (a conversation, interaction, location, feature, etc.)?

Hmm... more diversity I guess? More lgbt+ and poc characters? Also in GTH I wanted an option to not ask super invasive questions about Colton’s mental health but I guess it’s not really a Nancy Drew game if Nancy doesn’t ask tactless questions

15. Do you have any ideas for a future game? What is it?

MID

16. How long does it take you to finish a game from start to finish?

I try to take at least a few days to finish each game. If I know I’m almost at the end I’ll try to do anything but finish the game lol

17. Did any of the games scare you? If yes, which ones? If no, why?

OMG anything with alarms gives me hella anxiety. Anything that’s timed and idk how much time I actually have. I always made my mom do those parts when I was a kid. Tbh they still make me anxious but I’m an adult so now I just suffertm

18. Why did you join the Nancy Drew fandom here on tumblr?

I got back into the games when I was in college and had no friends and hella free time. I lurked for a while before I finally pulled the trigger piglet

19. What is your favorite Nancy Drew joke (from in-game or even floating around the internet)?

How salty everyone is about her’s terrible marketing decisions

20. Who is someone in the clue crew you’ve always wanted to get to know?

Hmmmm.... everyone tbh?? but i’m gonna tag @hotchkiss-and-tell cuz they tagged me

21. What are three unpopular opinions you hold about the games?

1. I don’t like TRN as much as everyone seems to?? I haven’t played it since I was like 10 but I remember not liking it much. Idk maybe I’d like it now?

2. I thought LIE was pretty fun? Like I know the puzzles make no sense but some of them are just like kind of relaxing? Like the pomegranate puzzle and the art puzzle on Xenia’s tablet

3. I read one (1) Joe/Sonny fic and now that pairing owns my ass but I’ve never seen anyone else ship it

22. Do you have any fun theories about any of the games?

Uhhhh my un-creative ass doesn’t have anything original but this theory about GTH by @nancy-who is my fav

23. Who was your favorite animal character featured in the games?

Tumi (SEA) is the cutest

24. Do other people in your life know about your love for Nancy Drew?

A couple, not really. I did get one of my friends to play one tho! she played CRY and she thought Henry was super hot but the game glitched and didn’t let her finish it :/

25. How long have you been playing these games?

I got FIN for christmas when I was 8 so it’s been... wow 14 years

I did this like super late so idk who has/hasn’t done this... if you see this and you wanna do it consider yourself tagged and @ me in your questionnaire :)

[phannibal]

series 9 rewatch

i haven’t seen most of series 9 since it aired like two years ago, so over the past week or so i’ve been rewatching it (out of order oops)! ngl i rlly hated it when it first aired so here’s like,, my updated opinions! 

 the magician’s apprentice/the witch’s familiar: i’m not kidding when i say i actually cried watching this on its air date bc i was so disappointed. idk why bc it’s actually a pretty solid premier?? could be just bc i’m like in love w missy now but either way i think it’s a gr8 set up for the rest of the series. also rlly cool titles that are prob about clara, 8/10 

under the lake/before the flood: for some reason i remembered these as being rlly boring but?? they’re SO good??? i love how at first it just seems like normal alien stuff but then it’s all about time and paradoxes and whatnot. idk i love eps like that, 10/10 

 the girl who died/the woman who lived: i didn’t really like ashildr in 2015 and… i still kinda don’t lmao. i feel like they tried to make her too important too quickly. i like the first part better, imo it’s good by itself– the second part is good too i’m jus biased against ashildr rip, 7/10 

the zygon invasion/the zygon inversion: i remembered these as being lit but tbh now i found them kinda boring. i feel like osgood had some weird characterization that didn’t fit, like just accepting any zygon that took her form as a sister?? wtf. also imo the doctor’s speech in part two is overrated and a bit egotistical, 6/10 

sleep no more: boring bad weird 4/10 (no but rlly, filmed all in the dark, u could find like a dozen episodes exactly like it, eye booger monsters?????) 

face the raven: in 2015 i didn’t like clara (is there anyone i liked in 2015??) so i didn’t find this ep that sad, but now? hoo boy, i was emotional as shit. i love the premise and rigsy and the timelords’ involvement, everything is just. so good. ashildr being part of it is kinda ?¿ but w/e, 9/10 

heaven sent: gets its own bc it’s the best episode ever made, work of art, a masterpiece, nothing on television will ever be the same, peak of cinematic beauty, never before seen pure, raw creative talent, 10000000/10 

hell bent: i still don’t know what tf the hybrid is or why i should be scared of it. the doctor going back to gallifrey is cool, clara getting an immortal space girlfriend is rad as fuck, the doctor forgetting clara is sad but maybe a bit predictable. i like how in every other new who finale there’s some sort of “end of the world” thing happening and in this one there’s like,, no danger at all lmao. didn’t rlly live up to heaven sent but that’d be impossible, 8/10 

 imma do the christmas ones too bc why not (idek if they count as s9 but w/e)

 the husbands of river song: perfect mix of humor and action and sadness for a christams ep, river not knowing the doctor is hilarious af, the ending is sO fucking sad but it’s also the absolute perfect wrap up of river’s arc, tHE library music that plays when she opens the screwdriver is actually lethal, 10/10 

the return of doctor mysterio: what the fuck. 0/10 

[tenroseforeverandever]

WIP Meme

WIP MEME

Here are some of my WIPs… There are several PWPs that I decided to leave out (they’ll never make it to posting…) and a couple of longer fics that are still too much in the planning stage to list here. Also, I have loads of great little things (not listed here) started in a “Working Document” that just keeps getting longer and longer… and some of those are well over 1000 words long, but haven’t been moved to their very own document yet!  

Gosh, I hope I’m able to finish some of these one day. There are so many stories here that I absolutely LOVE, but I’m a slow writer and I tend to get distracted by new ideas. Not an ideal combination of traits… Anywho, here goes:

1) Home for the Holidays Ten x Rose (my only WIP that is actually partially posted):

(Multichapter) A Doomsday Fixit that also follows the events of the Runaway Bride. Despite having the victory of the Battle of Canary Wharf behind them, Rose remains resentful that the Doctor tried to send her away after she promised she’d never leave him.

2) Banana Mochachino Tentoo x Rose:

(Multichapter) Tentoo and Rose’s relationship is suffering from the strain of living a life, day after day, but when the TARDIS coral perishes, their relationship falls completely apart, and they go their separate ways.  [This sounds horrible, and parts of it really are, but eventual happy ending, though at times it seems impossible]

3) Hidden Ten x Rose:

(Multichapter) Set in the world of my Christmas story, Timeless, where the events of Journey’s End happened differently: Tentoo never existed; Donna has married Lee; and Rose is traveling with the Doctor, leaving her family in Pete’s World.

After a honeymoon gone wrong, where Rose and the Doctor spend several grueling weeks saving a planet from hostile alien invasion, that involves human children being harvested and used for the aliens’ procreation, they stumble across a baby, abandoned in a barren field, nearly frozen to death, but one of very few precious children left on the planet. In helping the baby to heal, Rose becomes attached, and does not want to give it up. Follows the frustrations of our babies not being able to conceive a child of their own.

4) Run Ten x Rose:

(Multichapter) Sexual tension in Rose and the Doctor’s relationship is near the snapping point when she is nearly killed in an alien attack. Unbeknownst to the Doctor and Rose, the effects of the attack trigger changes in Rose’s physiology. Takes place after TIP/TSP.

5) This Useless Lump Ten x Rose:

(Multichapter) In the aftermath of GitF, the Doctor and Rose go to an extravagant ball, where the Doctor, once again, seems to be captivated by his royal hostess. While the he is otherwise occupied, Rose teams up with a handsome young man to thwart a revolution in the making. The Doctor becomes very concerned when the young man asks Rose to stay on the planet with him, and she seriously considers his offer.

6) Regrets, Repentence, and Promises Ten x Rose; Tentoo x Rose:

(Multichapter) The first story in my These Two Hearts Series, this story follows the evolution of the Doctor and Rose’s relationship in the aftermath of GitF. Follows it through to Doomsday. NOT a fixit. Very close to being ready to post… just working on a few more chapters…

7) Better with Two Ten x Rose:

(Multichapter) All human AU. A ten-year old Rose Tyler secretly ventures into a posh neighborhood in London and meets a wealthy young boy named James Noble. They have grand adventures in their imaginations, traveling through space and time, but are cruelly separated when James’ parents find out about their friendship. They lose contact with one another, but many years later Rose sees James’ again when he and his French fiancée, Jeanne, make a purchase at Henrick’s where Rose is working as a sales associate.

8) Untitled (for now) Ten x Rose:

(Multichapter) Human Nature AU: Rose, Donna, and Jack are all traveling with the Doctor. The Family of Blood is after Rose, instead of the Doctor, wanting to harvest her for the power of BAD WOLF. The Doctor chameleon arches her, and deposits her in modern day Canada, where she is (of course) rather jeopardy-friendly… Not a great summary, but I like the idea of this story, problematic though it is.

9) A Patch of Bad Weather Ten x Rose:

(Oneshot) The Doctor takes Rose to a planet in what he believes to be a grand romantic gesture, but Rose doesn’t quite see it that way.

10) Untitled Hogwarts AU Ten x Rose:

(Oneshot) A prompt fic that I BLOODY WELL WILL fill one of these days. James Noble, a Ravenclaw student, is well-known for his smarts throughout Hogwarts and the entire wizarding world for achieving time travel not limited to space. Everyone knows who he is, except he believes to his consternation, a beautiful Gryffindor quidditch player, two years his junior, named Rose Tyler.

11) So, Here’s the Thing… Tentoo x Rose:

(Oneshot) Part of my These Two Hearts Series. Tentoo and Rose’s three children are growing up faster than the Doctor would like. The Doctor’s adventures in parenthood while Rose is called away on a surprise mission for Torchwood.  (To be posted very, very soon! Yes, I swear this is true!)

12) Stuck on You Ten x Rose:

(Oneshot) Rose is curious about what the Doctor’s sticky notes say, but the Doctor isn’t inclined to share… not until Rose’s sexual frustration snaps. PWP Close to being finished, but…

13) The Cure  Nine or Ten x Rose:

(Oneshot) The Doctor takes care of Rose when she’s on her period. A bit too tropey for my liking, TBH.

14) The Lonely Lord and the Selkie Nine x Rose:

(Oneshot) Celtic Mythology AU Another prompt fic that MUST be filled.  Basically what the title implies. I really want to write this. I just want to make sure I get the mythology correct.

15) Wired Ten x Rose:

(Oneshot) An eccentric young genius calls his trusty IT man, Mickey Smith, whenever his computer crashes (once again) as he’s writing up his PhD. dissertation. However, Mickey’s friend, Rose Tyler is filling in for Mickey while he’s on his honeymoon, and she must convince him she’s qualified to help him out, but will she make a house call?

WHAT!!!! Only 15!!!??? I know there are more out there… I know there are!

Tagging: @timeladyofthesith; @perfectlyrose; @jellyneau-xo; @jem-scribbles; @hanluvr 

Darlings, please feel free to ignore... and I’m not trying to nag anyone or anything (I would never. And I should talk!) Sorry if you’ve already been tagged.

[chickenstuffedwithmozzarella]

Holiii!! I saw the pic of Liam and Honey😍😍😍 Asdfahs. They are so cute! And also, i love Liam's eyes. It'a such a nice colour!! And i also saw the gifs!! I love that gif of Louis.  HE LOOKS SO SOFT. I could cry. And Harry😂😂😂 Its such a mood. I always flip people off like that. Jajajaja. AND THE GIF OF HARRY WITH THE PINK JACKET. 😍He is dancing funny and i love hiiim.  Oh, and i havent read that fic but i'll read it asap and then i'll tell you about it. Promise. Thanks for the rec💖 (1)

Hiiii, Love!!!! I’m so sorry it took me so long to answer! but yesterday I was busy, and when I came home my head hurt like a b*tch, 😖😖. Liam’s eyes very pretty, aren’t they? Everyone likes him better (poor honey). I always flip people like that too, jajaja, that’s why I needed a gif, and I found the best, jajajaja. I couldn’t resist. I’m already rereading that fic,😅. I love re reading things I read a long while ago, bc my English has improved a bit since I came to tumblr, and it’s like reading things for the first time again, so cool.

It wasnt hard being updated bcs OT was everywhere, but yeah. I always try to engage in my friend’s hobbies. & some of them do the same. One of my friends used to be a 1D fan before i met her, and though she is not longer in the fandom she tries to be updated. She sends me memes or things that remind her of 1d. She even watched a video of BG without me knowing/telling her about it. I dont deserver her. Ay, and last week she watched freddieismyqueen videos with me on a free period. I 💖 her (2)

HOW DID YOU FRIEND MANAGE TO QUITE?!?!?! Jajajajaja It feels imposible (not that I have tried…). And she sees things and isn’t intrigued about what is happening?? She should write a self help book,jajajaja. “How to suite one direction: the guide”,jajajaja. But she sounds cool and supportive of you, so keep her, jejeje.

Well, you just described me. Talking in public always end up in one of those two options. I have always wanted to do a road trip!!! You are totally invited of course. JAJAJAJA. Well, it just…happened? Our friend was having a very bad time and he was going through a lot of things and we didnt know how to cheer him up. And then one night we just starting watching a video of AuronPlay reading a fic, and he was happy for the first time in months. (3)And so my cousin said “what if we write him a fic?” And i said “omg, yes”. And thus was born. Its a crack fic. We just put in there his family, his biggest celebrity crush, our friends, ourselves and a couple of animals and started writing nonesense. He hasnt read anything yet, bcs we want to finish it first, and me and my cousin (and our siblings, bcs they wanted to help) only hang out alone sporadically. But we laugh a lot writing it. I hope he laughs too when he finally reads it. (4)

You, your sister and your cousins sound so cool. And your friends too. I’m gonna have to migrate and adopt you all, jajajaj. I’m sure your friend is gonna love it. It’s a recipe for success. Keep me updated when you show him and his reaction,please!!

“How does a gay look like?” Like someone with no toxic masculinity. But i see your point. Judging on looks is not cool. (And i dont usually do it. I watched their behaviour or their words. When someone doesnt ever use gender pronouns and just say “they” “parter” “somebody” im just👀👀👀 i see what u are doing). Yes yes. What you said makes sense. I understood. Dont worry. I have never heard that quote, but i think i could marry whoever wrote this. So much truth!! 😱 (6)

Tbh I never payed attention to that, :/ (heteronormative mind and all that). If I had, maybe I had known about a lot of my high school friends’ sexuality. Looking back, we were just a group of friends, boys a girls, nobody cared about boyfriends/girlfriends (we were friends from 12-16). Then we went our separate ways, and we lost touch. And now I see in Facebook that they are gays and lesbians, and I’m like… :/ we didn’t know much about those things back then. And I hope I didn’t make any comments who could offend/affect them. But it makes me so happy to see them being themselves and living with they’re boyfriends and girlfriends… 😊 I just wish I could have been a better friend back then 🤷🏻‍♀️. But now I pay attention to that. And I always try to show support in a non invasive way. And try to educate people about who they’re been homophobic, or make not appropriate comments… like there’s this boy (around 16) that likes to paint his nails. And I love everything to do with nails. And, at the shop, I comment on people’s nails (if I know them enough, lol). And I always try to say something nice to this guy. To normalize the fact that he has his nails painted (and no make a statement that I approve of it, if someone else is listening, so they don’t make rude comments around me). And then my friend’s sister is Lesbian. But their mother is so ancient-minded… like, my friend has a dit of fat, and she’s always making comment about how she should be skinnier bc she won’t ever find a husband 😒. And her sister is very thin. And once, she was working as cleaner in a /cuartel de la guardia civil(?)/. And their mother was always: hmmm, I hope she finds a good guy there, bc she’s never had a boyfriend. And I always thought: I wonder why, lol. Well, she finally came out to her parents, and while they don’t treat her different (which I don’t know if it’s good or no), they’re like “waiting” she changes her mind. And hoping she finds a boyfriend. Anyway, her mother is friends with my mom, and she comes to visit at the shop sometimes, and she always has a comment to make about what people do or don’t do. And I get so angry 😡. I’m always correcting her. But she doesn’t listen. And I feel sorry for my friend and her sister. So whenever I have the chance I saw her my support, and always talk about these things, lol. (I talk so much about lgbt+ things, that my family associates me with it, to the point that every time they see a rainbow or whatever they tell me: look look! And I just satisfied with it. At least they don’t make so much homophobic comments anymore 😒)

YOUR MOM IS AN ANTI? How? “Why would they fake a baby?” Thats a good question with awful answers. I miss RBB&SBB.😍 (I havent explained that to anybody, yet. But once while playing a game my cousins choose Rbb as his nickname so i choose Sbb and our friends started making questions and we where like? 1d things? Long story, leave it for another day? I’m glad they dont remember it bcs i wouldnt know how to explain that😂😂). Was your friend a fan of 1d too? (7)

Well, she isn’t a nasty anti, jajajja, but she doesn’t think they’re together. Not for nothing special, just that she thinks they would say it if they were together. And since they haven’t say it, they aren’t together. But I’ve shown her the famous Christmas pic, and she doesn’t Thing B was ever pregnant. And I show her pics of F to ask for an outsider opinion, and she doesn’t think the kid looks like Louis at all, lmao. So, I think if they ever come out, she wouldn’t care at all. Bahhh, I’ve talked about RBB/SBB with my friend sometimes, but it’s so bad of a thing, that we don’t come to a conclusion. She isn’t a fans, sadly. But she likes celeb gossip, and I like to talk, so… yesterday she came to visit/ to get her arms waxed (bc that’s my other unofficial job) and she ended up staying for 2 hours. Bc we had see each other briefly lately, couldn’t sit and talk properly in a while. And she always asks me about 1d, bc she knows I love to talk about it,jajaja. And I have a sideblog where I reblog things to show her. And well, yesterday we talked a little about BG, and I showed her the no-belly pic, and she was… 😳. And she thinks louis and Harry must be together, at least at some point, bc the way the touched wasn’t in a friendly way. She now has a boyfriend, and she kept saying: I’m not a very touchy person with my friends or my family, but when I’m with him I always want to touch him or kiss him, and that’s what those two were always doing. And I’m always: do you think that for real, or are you just saying it so I stop talking?? Jajjaja. And yes, she’s convinced they are/were together. She asked me if I think they’re still together, and I told her that now more than ever, but it’s a long story, so we should talk about it another time, bc lol, we were just talking about it for a couple of hours, and we both had things to do. So, we’ll keep talking another time.

Of course, I dont share that info with everybody, but I dont mind my friends knowing. I have this one friend that i bother everytime i get frustated bcs of a fic. I tell him the plot, and what is happening and i cry about it (and he laughs at me but at least he listens). Sometimes i make him choose which one should i read next when i cant decide. (9)

I almost did a fic reference yesterday talking with my friend, and I stopped myself midsentece, and laughed (I thought of you,jajaj) and she was so confused!! But she’s used to my weirdness, so we just laughed it way. And I kept talking, jajajajaj.

Girl, i have 6 dioptres😂😂 Thats what i have forbid myself from reading on the phone. No, i havent read that one, but its now on the list. I’ll tell you when i do! Though it make take a while :( (I understand you. Dont worry). (10)

😳 6?!!?! Please take care of your eyes!!! Stop reading… everything!! Jajaja. No, I’m kidding. I know about people who has 8… so you’re still ok,jajajaj. I have 1, but my ophthalmologist told me I’m very sensitive to change, bc I thought I had 27463 diopters, bc I saw so poorly 🙄🙄.

Yes, i also like IDGAF more than New Rules. They have overplayed that one. Have you heard Blow Your Mind? I love that one. It’s also a single so…i guess you have heard it? You’ll get amazing shots, i’m sure. Honey was sleeping on you? 😭😭😭😭 I love hiiim (11)

I listened today Room for 2 and Homesick, and I think I like them. I’ll have to listen this new one two. For me, to like a song, I have to heard /a lot/ (not as much as Despacito, please). It has to have a catchy tune. That’s why I think a like Carolina, or Woman, or Kiwi, and I don’t understand why people is so fidyfvbure about the lyrics, jajjaja.Honey is always sleeping on me. The other day Liam was sleeping between my legs, and Honey came and just laid on top of my poor limo. And I wanted to kill him, bc liam never comes to sleep with me. They’re so different… but I love them both.

Oh, my little sister. I just wanted to tell you that yesterday was her birthday. She almost cried when she saw that me and my older sister had brought her Flicker deluxe as a present. (We hadnt bought it yet. Dont judge us). She was freaking out just bcs of that and i was laughing so hard thinking that she’s gonna pass out when she sees the rainbow flag her friends have gotten her for Nialls show. And also another pair of Cds. She wont survive the show. Poor thing. But she was so happy 😍😍 (12)You start next week? Okay. I’ll ask again next wednseday. Have a nice daaaay!!

Not judging, you’re amazing sisters!! Awww, poor thing!! She will have an amazing time at Niall’s concert, for sure. And, yes, please, tell her to bring the flag. I’m so happy seeing how people are starting to bring rainbow flags to niall concerts too. And have you seeing that he has taken pics with rainbow flags?? He even brought one to the stage the other day!! It makes me inexplicably happy to say everything covered in rainbows. There was so much at Harry’s show too, my sister said it looked like a pride parade. Hey, Dunkirk it’s about to start khbkhdfbvkjdnfvkjndfv. But, have YOU SEEING THE NEW ROYAL BABY WAS NAMED AFTER LOUIS?????? AND HIS TWEET?!?!?  IM SCREAMED!!!! Dijffvjkbdded. Bye love. I have to feed my cats before the movie starts!!! Aaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!